Growing Up To Be A Big Doctor
I've commented on more than one occasion that this transition into private practice feels like I'm growing up and becoming a Big Doctor.
Let me explain.
In employment, doctors are KEPT from knowing what things cost. No one wants to bother our pretty little heads with the details. If you ask questions, you get blank stares. If you ask for something that's not the status quo, the answer is "no." They discourage you from doing things that are good for patient care and satisfaction because they "don't reimburse well." This is the way of corporations and this is the reason why your doctor cannot fully help you or even be empathetic to your financial needs. Their hands are tied and they are just plain ignorant.
Ownership is the way to physician maturity. We need a generation of fully matured physicians who are thinkers and not just doers if we are going to turn healthcare around in this country in an American (and not Socialist) manner.
In establishing a practice literally from the ground up, I learned what everything in it cost me. I've shopped around. I've gotten the best deals I could. Along the way, my eyes have opened to see how bad patients get screwed in primary care practices under an insurance delivery model. The price inflation is EXTREME and UNFAIR. I've found that other small businesses and medical practices are willing to negotiate with another small business for services. This is a paradigm shift back to common sense, people! People working with other people to get what they both want is the true spirit of capitalism. It's how businesses grow: networking, cooperation, shared vision, leadership with an eye for cost and value. If the end goal in that pursuit is patient health and satisfaction, entrepreneurial healthcare is the space every patient should be clamoring for!
In establishing a cash based practice, I believe I've made the best choice to fully help patients. Some would argue cash pricing is somehow exclusive, but I argue the opposite: it opens the market up to those who cannot afford and do not needexcessively priced insurance as a prerequisite to have a doctor of their own. Insurance, the government and healthcare systems have hoodooed us all into believing that health care is the same as health coverage. Let me clarify: doctors provide health care; insurance provides health coverage. You want your doctor working to take care of you, not working for the Industry.
Entrepreneurial spirits established the United States and continue to be it's economic backbone. Most companies in the U.S. are small businesses and they employ the vast majority of Americans. Chances are good, I'm speaking directly to you: you either own a small business or are employed by one. You may not be old enough to appreciate it but doctors, like dentists, used to be small business owners themselves. Doctors used to be as connected to their communities as the land they lived on. People used to look to their doctors to help them within their financial constraints. I think this is still doable within primary care, and it's certainly doable all across medicine as specialty DPCs and places like Surgical Center of Oklahoma have shown over and over again.
Interested in becoming a member of a new medical practice that's focused on you? Please visit me at my new websitewww.vibrantlifedc.com or call the office at 405-381-1381.
Viva la vida!
Dr. Lydia